Why? Why not?
by ArminArlelt
Summary: Toon Link has never won a battle. He thinks he never will, but when a surprising outcome in a battle turns his luck around, he ends up doing something he never thought possible. One-shot.


Hi again! Yay this is my 3rd story! :D Haha anyway, this is only a one-shot, but I hope it's good! Have fun reading and please review, good or bad! Thanks for reading!~

-Toon Link's POV-

I'm weak.

I'm weak and everyone knows it.

I know it.

Okay... I'm not the strongest, but I can win a battle... right?

Wrong.

I haven't won a single battle since I've been here. Even against the opponents on the weaker end, I'm always last place.

I just can't win.

I haven't been here long so I still don't know how everything works, but that's no excuse for never even landing more than 3 hits a battle. And even at that, the attacks I deal barely do any damage, let alone make me any closer to winning or any further away from losing.

I never congratulate anyone that wins, so everyone thinks I'm a sore loser. It's not that at all, I just can't give any kind of praise because of all the tears that are constantly coming down my face or the tears that I try to contain so they don't think I'm a total cry-baby.

I don't even like to battle because I know I'll lose.

And, of course, my battle is next.

Great, another chance to get called 'loser' and 'useless' by everyone.

Well... not everyone.

Every battle I lose, after every bad comment that I get, I go to my room and cry silent tears that even if someone knew I shed could care less.

But he cares. He always cares.

He is the only friend I have.

We are brothers, but he acts more like a best friend. He is the one that is always there for me.

...Link.

He has always been kind to me, and always tries to make me feel better when I lose, giving me words of encouragement.

They make me laugh sometimes, the things he says.

He says, "It'll be okay," and "Things will be different next time," but they never are.

And, even though he'd never admit it, he knows it. But why does he still help me? I think that'll be a question to add to the list of unanswered mysteries.

One time after a particularly hard loss, I decided to just kill myself. It was a rash move and probably the _worst_ move I'd ever make, but I just couldn't take it anymore. I didn't want to continue to go through the suffering, so I was just going to get it over with. I had done my duty as the Hero of Winds, I had told myself, so what was there really any more reason to keep going through hardships?

I had tied a rope to the fan over the staircase and hung the other end loosely around my neck.

I was just about to jump.

I put my feet over the edge and took a deep breath, anticipating the fall to my death. Suddenly, though, I heard a gasp behind me and the rope was cut. Then a strong, gloved hand caught me by my arm. I was pulled back onto solid ground and didn't even have to look up to know that it was Link. I shifted my gaze downward to avoid his glare when he spoke to me.

"Are you crazy! KILLING YOURSELF? Toon, that's ridiculous and completely unnecessary! Why would you do something like that!" He had said to me while holding onto my shoulders tightly to emphasize his point. I shut my eyes tightly, but that didn't help the tears that flooded behind my eyes.

When he saw me start to cry, he hugged me close to him and told me that I didn't need to kill myself - that he was still there for me. I tightly clutched his sleeve and cried as I tried as hard as I could to believe him.

Honestly, I don't know why he even cares about me at all.

He has the one of the best reputations around the smash mansion and can get any friend or girl he wants, and yet, he is still nice to _me_? I know it's not solely for the whole 'brotherly-duty' thing, so what's the point? I never understood why, but to be honest, I have a lot of 'whys' in my life.

Why was I made this way?

Why am I so weak?

Why can I not ever win?

Why does everyone hate me?

Why?... Just why?

-Normal POV-

"TOON LINK, WARIO, SONIC, AND MR. GAME & WATCH, REPORT TO THE MAIN HALL FOR YOUR BATTLE!" Master Hand's voice boomed over the intercom.

Said fighters were scheduled to fight in a tournament today.

Guess who didn't want to go.

"Sonic is SO going to win," Captain Falcon commented as a few heads bobbed in agreement.

"I don't-a know," Mario countered, "Wario is pretty strong-a." Again, there were nods of approval.

"MR. GAME & WATCH WILL BE VICTORIOUS," R.O.B. challenged in his robotic voice. Ditto.

Everyone was talking - and arguing - about Mr. Game & Watch, Wario, and Sonic being the winner as Link just watched the feud. He knew who he wanted to win, but he also knew that if he voiced his opinion, he would only be looked down upon.

But that didn't stop him.

"Toon Link could win," Link announced proudly.

The entire room then fell silent and looked at Link like he had just grown a second head. Captain Falcon broke the silence with a sadistic chuckle, waltzing over to Link and looking down at the shorter boy.

"Um... excuse me? Did you just say that that scrawny, 12 year-old copy _Toon Link_ would win?" Captain Falcon repeated mockingly, smirking like an idiot. Link gulped, a little shaky from the older man's chiding stare. But he would rather die than admit that, so he simply swallowed his apprehension and gave Captain Falcon an equally challenging look.

"Yes I did. So?" Link stated coyly. Captain Falcon made a bemused sound at this.

"Don't make me laugh, kid. All that fame musta' gotten to your head. That dumb kid hasn't won a battle since he's been here!" Captain Falcon continued, earning a deep growl from Link.

"I bet he could this time!" Link said in defiance. Captain Falcon flinched only slightly at the outburst, then fell back into his cocky composure as he reviewed Link's statement.

"...You bet?" Captain Falcon asked challengingly. Link blinked, running it through his mind a few times to test if it was worth his wile. On one hand, if he lost, he would have to deal with the obnoxious racer for the rest of the tournament. But on the other hand, if he won, he'd never let Captain Falcon live this down.

Sounded good enough to him.

"...Y-yeah. I bet..." Link tried. Again, this only made the racer give a sound of amused approval.

"Well, alright, boy! It's a bet! And _when_ Toon Link loses, you have to drop out of the tournament this year!" Captain Falcon said with a smug grin on his face. Link's eyes widened as he thought about this.

Drop out? He had won the tournament for the past 2 years, and was planning on easily winning the 3rd. However, if he didn't take the bet, that would make Toon Link sound like even more of a loser to everyone; his best - and only - friend not having enough confidence in him to think he would win.

He didn't have a choice.

"... And if I win?" Link asked hesitantly.

"Ha! Ya know what? If you win, I'll clean your room for 5 months, bring you all your meals, **and** give you all of my smash coins!" Captain Falcon smirked proudly, holding out a gloved hand to seal the deal, "Do we have a bet?"

Link sighed exasperatedly. This could only end well...

"...Yes," Link said as they shook hands.

Seeing the bet just made, others eagerly started getting in on the action. There were bets on Captain Falcon left and right, and in a matter of moments, there were over 100,000 smash coins bet against Link.

If he won, he would live in luxury. But if he lost...

He didn't even want to think about Captain Falcon laughing in his face after he won the tournament, but it was all up to Toon Link now.

. . . . . . . .

When the fighters emerged from their rooms to the main hall, everyone instantly began cheering for the three that weren't Toon Link.

Toon's confidence dropped from -104 to -223. Even though he was used to this treatment, he couldn't help but feel tears creep up behind his eyes, making him shut them tightly.

_Get ahold of yourself! You're really going to cry before the match even starts? You're such a baby..._

"Toon Link!" came a voice from behind him suddenly. Toon Link flinched, at the same time quickly bringing up his bright green sleeves to his eyes and wiping away his tears. He wouldn't let Link see him crying this time.

"Yes?" Toon asked, nonchalantly turning to face his brother.

Link bent down to his brother's height and laid his hands on the others shoulders, noticing, all though not bringing up, the tear stains on his sleeves. He quickly broke off his gaze and instead gave Toon a fake confident smile while Toon only looked more confused.

"Toon... I…I..." Link began, but he bit his lip as he thought about the huge weight he was about to lay on his already over-stressed brother. This wasn't right of him; piling on all of this pressure onto Toon just because of his own stubbornness. However, trying to find a way out of this was pointless since the deal had already been sealed.

"What's wrong, Link?" Toon Link questioned suddenly, making Link's eyes snap back up to him. So close up, Link noticed, as if for the first time, how cute and youthful Toon Link appeared. In reality, he was almost 14 years old, but to anyone meeting him for the first time, he couldn't be judged a day over 8. His bright, curious, navy-blue eyes and button-like nose only added to his kid-like features and over-all cuteness. His bright blond hair, only over-shadowed by his signature green hat, was fluffy and soft like down.

Link smiled once more, his eyes glittering.

How could anyone be so mean to him?

Toon Link blinked, wondering what in the world could make Link have such a distant, airy look on his face.

"Are you okay..?" Toon Link questioned again, this time waving a hand in front of the other boy's face. Link blinked, finally seeming to be broken out of his reverie completely. Link sighed, shifting his gaze away from Toon Link's questioning one.

"...I... I bet the tournament on you..." Link whispered, almost too quietly for Toon Link to pick up. Toon Link's already large eyes widened as he processed the quite statement.

"You... You did _what_?" Toon Link breathed, totally taken aback. Link sighed more heavily this time, turning a firmer gaze towards his brother.

"I made a bet with Captain Falcon that if you won this battle, he would comply to do a few mundane tasks for me and you," Toon Link's eyes only widened further, now completely shocked that Link would do this. Link laughed half-heartedly, as amused as he could be at Toon Link's expression in his current situation.

"That's how much I believe that you can win this, Toon! It may sound a little cliché, but I really do believe in you," Link smiled enthusiastically as Toon Link's eyes sparkled at the praise.

"But if you don't win, don't worry. I'll be okay," Link continued with a genuine smile, "And I'll still be right there cheering you on like always. Just do your best, alright?"

Toon Link swallowed, his throat suddenly becoming dry.

"I... I'll try," Toon Link said quietly. Link smiled, bringing his brother in for one more energizing hug. Toon Link slowly wrapped his arms around his brother, his heart dropping a little.

_I have to win this battle for him...There's not an option this time..._

"FIGHTERS! INTO THE TELEPORTER!" Master Hand suddenly announced over the intercom, making Toon Link and Link practically jump out of their embrace. Link smiled once more at Toon Link, the other blond only giving a not-even half-hearted one in response.

As Toon Link, Sonic, Wario, and Mr. Game & Watch stepped into the teleporter, Link flashed one more smile of good luck at his brother with an added thumbs up.

Toon only looked more scared.

. . . . . . . . .

The stage was Final Destination, each had 2 stock lives with all items in play.

Toon Link, in a billow of red smoke, emerged on the stage, quickly drawing his sword and readying himself in his battle-stance.

"3!"

Mr. Game and Watch pixilated down in different poses, ending as he stepped down into a fighting position.

"2!"

Sonic flashed down to the stage in a glowing spin of blue fur, skidding to a halt and flashing a confident thumbs up to the crowd.

"1!"

Wario sped onto the stage on his Wario-cycle, awkwardly and clumsily falling off of the machine while letting out a cruel-sounding chuckle.

"GO!"

With that, the match started out as Sonic, Mr. G&W, and Wario raced at each other, eager to get the battle started.

Sonic rolled into a bright, speedy, blue ball and smashed head-on into Wario's face, sending the fat elf-man stumbling backwards to gain his balance. Wario, enraged, came back full force, punching Sonic in the stomach and making him fall back a little as the familiar 'beep, beep, beep' of Mr. G&W's feet came up from behind. Mr. G&W, not missing a beat, used his giant, black hammers to break them apart and sent Wario flying. Sonic chuckled, proud of himself for anticipating the black character's move. Pivoting, the blue hedgehog eagerly flew back into the heat of battle, smashing into Mr. G&W while Wario narrowly escaped being hit.

As the other three were engaged in the raging battle, Toon Link stood alone on the very corner of the stage, meekly trying to avoid being noticed.

_Maybe if I just stand here quietly, they won't notice me and I can just ride out this match until at least one of them is knocked out..._ Toon Link thought as he scooted a bit further to the edge of the platform.

However, just as he did this, Sonic noticed that there was a dramatic lack of another battler, making him cautiously stray his focus from the other two to the other side of the stage.

Sonic's sharp eyes immediately locked on to Toon Link and, in a flash of indecipherable blue, grabbed him by the throat, choking him. Toon Link had a look of horror on his face as he struggled in the hedgehog's grip.

"What's the matter, scared?" Sonic asked maliciously, mimicking Wolf's taunt.

He kicked Toon Link numerous times, and then finally drove him into the hard platform.

"AAHH!" Toon screamed in pain while Sonic only chuckled, satisfied with the results of his tormenting.

Picking the boy back up, Sonic tossed his feather-light body into the air, instantly jumping up to meet the boy's height and twirling to smash his left foot into Toon's back. Almost in a daze from the pain, Toon Link whimpered as he flew a good ten feet and bounced a few times across the stage before skidding to a halt. Cracking his eyes open the slightest bit, he braced his hands on the ground and tried his best to push himself up before the hedgehog could catch up. He managed to at least stagger back to his feet in time to hear Sonic's fast-paced shoe-beats thundering towards him.

Sonic, as predicted, appeared in front of the boy in record time, grabbing his shirt once more and bringing Toon Link's terrified face close to his own, at the same time beginning to charge up a powerful punch. Toon Link clenched his eyes shut to brace himself, knowing that putting up a fight would be useless against the hedgehog's strength.

However, before Sonic could finish his attack, a loud sound echoed through the air, making Toon Link's eyes widen as he looked back to see what made the noise. It sounded almost like a scream, but it was much too high pitched, even for a little girl.

Toon Link strained to see the commotion, but finally recognized it as the eerie screech of Mr. G&W's mega-hammers. Sonic's eyes became wide, and suddenly, he was flung off of Toon Link and out of bounds.

Falling to the ground with Sonic no longer holding him up, Toon Link 'oof'ed and choked to regain his breath as he looked up to see what had happened.

Mr. G&W stood over Toon Link with a powerful hammer that had the number '9' in the suspended box above his head.

Toon Link blinked, his eyes conveying fright, shock, appreciation, and relief all at once.

_At least I'm not the first to die..._

One player's stock life down, 5 to go.

Snapping back into action, Toon Link scrambled away from Mr G&W's reach just as the pixilated character was about to bring down an equally large hammer down hard on the platform.

Sonic reappeared on the 'angelic' pad and looked furious, directing his anger straight at Mr. G&W. He jumped down and instantly lunged himself at the smasher, intent on dealing damage.

Grabbing the startled character just as he had done Toon Link, Sonic punched, kicked, slammed, scratched, and finally drove Mr. G&W straight into the ground, leaving the fighter's damage meter at a dangerous 120%.

Not waiting for Mr. G&W to recover, Sonic waisted no time in charging up a spinning punch, announcing a "GO!" and sending the black character hurdling off of the stage.

4 to go.

Mr. G&W returned on the pad just has Sonic had and rushed at the fighter aforementioned while Toon Link was dealing with his own little problem. Or rather his very BIG problem.

Wario, somehow avoiding battle to remain neutral and regain his strength, finally rushed back into the fight, targeting Toon Link, much to the Hylian's horror. He had never battled Wario one-on-one before, so coming up with a battle strategy was going to prove a challenge while also trying to hold off the man long enough for one to formulate.

Whipping out his sword with nowhere else to turn, Toon Link blocked a particularly harsh punch, only managing to throw Wario off a step. Parrying once more, Toon Link ducked down and then slid under his arm to try to at least give him a little bit of leeway between him and the edge of the stage.

_I've got to think of something..._

Toon Link's large eyes began scanning around him, first flickering over to where Sonic had Mr. G&W pinned once more, and then over to a white orb with a flashy-red exclamation point painted on the front. Reacting quickly, Toon Link picked up speed and then dove down to get it, instantly whipping back around to face Wario who was now oddly hobbling over to him.

Gritting his teeth, Toon threw the pit-trap as hard as he could, letting it fly straight at Wario. As hoped, it slammed into the short man, rooting him deep into the platform.

Breathing heavily, Toon Link continued to fly down the stage, knowing that it wouldn't keep the man detained for long.

Suddenly, though, Toon Link crashed into Sonic who was, at the moment, gloating over having kicked Mr. G&W almost all the way across the stage.

With an "oof!" from Toon Link, Sonic turned around to glare daggers at the boy. Again, horror struck every feature on Toon Link's face.

"I'm about sick of you, kid," he bellowed in a menacing tone. Toon's eyes widened in fright until he saw Wario coming from behind him on his Wario-cycle.

Toon Link, reacting quickly, got to his feet and jumped as high as he could, avoiding the attack while Sonic got hit. Wario just bumped over him and sent a laugh back at the hedgehog while Sonic painfully got back to his feet and ran at lightning speed after him.

"YOU'RE DEAD, WARIO!" Sonic yelled, obviously way passed infuriated. Wario, unfazed, simply turned his head towards the hedgehog and chuckled maliciously.

"CATCH-A ME FIRST!" he yelled back. Accepting the challenge, Sonic growling and dashed towards him, easily catching the man and throwing him off of that stupid bike of his.

After a moment of satisfaction from having avoided that catastrophe, Toon suddenly heard the subtle 'beep, beep, beep, beep,' coming from behind him. He turned sharply to see Mr. G&W coming straight for him.

Turning to run but hesitating in his step, Toon Link stopped and determination broke out across his face. Link was counting on him, and there was no way he would win if he kept this up.

With new-found courage, Toon Link quickly formulated a plan, jumping high into the air to get a perfect angle for a downward strike. Mr. G&W was so shocked that Toon Link had actually tried to fight back for once that he got hit head-on without putting up any kind of shield to at least some-what deflect the blow. The 'audience' cheered as the black character flew several yards backwards and harshly landed on top of a blast box.

Toon Link unearthed his sword from the stage, feeling quite proud of himself for landing such a precision strike. Suddenly, though, he noticed the symbol of a flame on the side of the large box and a notice that said 'CAUTION'. He instantly spotted his opportunity and pulled out a bomb from the endless pit of his pockets, the small explosive lighting as soon as drawn. He directed it straight at the box and threw it as hard as he could, hoping that the bomb would land where he had planned and not stray to some askew location seeing as he hadn't had much practice in targeting.

"BOOOMM!"

With a loud explosion, the fragile wooden box exploded into a thousand pieces and sent Mr. G&W flying off into the distance. Toon Link blinked, watching as the pixilated character faded off with a bright sparkle in the sky.

_I... I actually killed someone!_ Toon thought with a smile. Although he himself not noticing it, his triforce piece glowed brighter than ever as courage flowed through him.

"MR. GAME & WATCH, DEFEATED!" the voice boomed.

From the other side of the stage, another loud explosion was heard, making Toon Link turn and look to see an irate Wario coming back down on the recovery pad. His face was contorted in anger and he was obviously eying Sonic.

Sonic and Wario were really bad sore losers.

_Only 2 left_, Toon Link thought.

Wario, plopping ungracefully down from the plate, ran for Sonic and punched him as hard as he could without missing a beat. Sonic, shocked at how quickly Wario had recoiled, let out a yelp of pain and landed a little ways away. Not even able to get up in time to try to dodge, Wario used his 'waft' to finish the job.

"SONIC, DEFEATED!" the voice announced.

Toon Link, at first elated to have made it to the final two, drew in a sharp gasp.

_It's just me and Wario... oh no_, Toon thought, panicked. If Wario had dealt with Sonic with such ease, there was no doubt that it would be easy for the big man to defeat him. Wario was one of the dirtiest and mischievous players; he would stop at _nothing _to win. Not sympathy, guilt, pain, nor pride would get to him.

That's just the way he played.

Wario smiled evilly at him and then proceeded to thunder towards Toon Link, picking up a smart bomb along the way.

Toon's eyes widened as his large eyes flickered down to the bomb and then back to Wario. Bringing his arm backwards, he was obviously intending to use it now.

_I can't dodge in time! _Toon yelled to himself, watching as the explosive left Wario's palm and was sent hurdling towards him.

Exploding on contact, it instantly engulfed Toon Link, sending heat, electricity, and pain throughout his small body. However, Toon Link had dealt with these before too many times to be fazed, so he simply took on the blast, which resulted in only minor damage.

The surge finally ending, Toon Link was hurled backward, himself landing only a few yards away from where it had initiated. The pain numbed his body a bit, but that didn't stop him from quickly thinking of another plan. Since he really couldn't fight too well in hand-to-hand combat, the only way for him to stay at a safe distance would be to use his arrows or bombs...

_That's it! _Toon Link thought, the imaginary light-bulb lighting up his expression as well, _I just have to wait for him to get close enough..._

"Come here you little pest..." Wario sneered. He was only about a yard away from Toon Link now.

_A little closer..._ Toon Link thought, slowly reaching towards his pocket for a bomb.

"Come heeere... ACK!" Wario screamed as he was caught in the bomb that Toon Link had thrown. Getting into a fighting stance, Toon Link threw bomb after bomb after bomb at Wario, easily raising his damage meter to 98%

_This is my chance!_ Toon Link thought with a prideful smirk. He began to come closer while still throwing bombs like crazy, paralyzing Wario on the spot with the barrage.

"WOULD YOU- OUCH! WOULD- AH! STOP IT!" Wario yelled, trying to see through the smoke of the bombs. Of course, Toon Link did not comply.

When Toon Link got a few feet away, he put away his bombs and drew his sword, taking a confident step forward and putting all of energy into doing a forward strike.

With a "HIYA!", Wario flew off the stage, yelling words that Toon Link hadn't even heard before. In a flurry of bright sparks and colors, Wario fell out of bounds, marking his defeat.

"GAME!" the voice announced after a moment; it was the only noise that could be heard throughout the quiet stadium.

Everyone was dumb-founded.

Toon Link stood there with sword in hand, not quite believing what had just happened himself, when suddenly, he was flashed back to the main hall where all the silent smashers were standing.

Upon stepping out of the teleporter, Toon Link looked around at all of the incredulous faces staring back at him. Blushing, Toon Link shrugged back as much as he could until he saw Link pushing through the crowd to see him. Finally reaching him, Link dropped to his knees and threw his arms around his brother.

"Toon! You won! I knew you could do it!" Link congratulated, squeezing Toon Link even harder. Toon Link blinked, still a bit shaken and unable to process exactly what had just occurred.

However, after a moment, a thought made Link break from the embrace and turn to the other smashers.

"I believe you owe me something," Link said, a smirk breaking out across his face as he held out a greedy hand.

The smashers broke their confused stares and grumbled angrily as they began to dig around in their pockets and hand all of the bet smash coins over to Link. Looking around awkwardly at the others, Captain Falcon inched his way up to Link's side, knowing that he would receive the worst punishment of all.

"Um... Link? We can just put this little incident behind us, right?" Captain Falcon chuckled meekly. Link sent a glare back at him, obviously irritated at the racer's disobedience.

"No way, Falcon. You made a bet and you lost; you have to honor a commitment," Link's serious face then broke out into a proud smile, "And I believe you are due to clean my room tomorrow."

Captain Falcon grumbled angrily and slumped away, Link only rolling his eyes while turning back to see how Toon was doing. He was getting positive attention from everyone except for the ones he defeated.

"You did such a good job!" and, "I'm sorry I was so mean to you, Toon Link. You wanna' maybe hang out later?" could be heard coming from the crowd around him along with other words of praise.

Smiling, Link pushed his way up to Toon Link, waving at him to get his attention. Catching his eye, Link gave Toon a gesture to follow him, then, when he knew he was understood with an affirmative nod, he began to walk away towards his room.

Toon Link blinked, politely excusing himself from the crowd as he ran after his brother.

-Toon Link's POV-

The only thing I could think about on the way to Link's room was my battle. It was so... intense. But at the same time, it was the first time since I've been here that I've actually had what I'd consider to be 'fun'. Nothing compared to the feeling of hearing, "GAME!" and me being the last one standing. It was also pretty amusing to see how everyone had reacted, not that my face was anywhere short of hilarious.

Smiling to myself for the first time in months, I came to a stop at Link's door. Considering just barging in since Link knew I was coming but not wanting to be rude either, I knocked, but oddly, no response came. Blinking, I decided to just give the knob a try. As I expected, the knob turning fluidly and gave a 'click' sound, indicating that it was ready to be opened.

However, when I actually got into his room, I was to surprised at what I saw. Or... what I _didn't_ see. Link was no where in the room.

Half expecting Link to jump out and scare me, I put my guard up and cautiously scanned around the room. He was no where to be seen. My eyes narrowed in half-hearted irritation.

What the heck is going on? He tells me to follow him and now I can't find him anywhere.

Sighing, I turned and clicked the door shut, the hinges giving a little squeak as I did. At almost the same instant, I heard something shift in the closet, making my eyes dart towards it.

"Oh, hey Toon! Sorry I didn't hear you come in, I was just looking for something in here that obviously doesn't want to be found..." he grumbled from the closet. Blinking, I let out a breath that I didn't even know I was holding. Giving him time to find what he was looking for, I flopped down on his bed. It was a lot bigger than mine and almost swallowed me up as I sunk into it.

"HA! Found it!" Link called, making me curiously sit up and watch as he came over to the bed and sat down beside me with a brown box in his hand. Smiling almost nostalgically, he proceeded to open the box and take out a dusty picture of an middle-aged man and woman that were with a small child.

Seeing my questioning stare, Link smiled and closed his eyes, not even looking at the picture as he told me about it.

"This is a picture of me and... my mom and dad," Link almost whispered, "they're... they're gone now."

I looked from the picture to his face, noticing that his smile had dropped and his eyes were a little distant. Taking a deep breath to regain his composure, Link's glossy eyes opened as he continued.

"When I came here, people made fun of me because of the funny way my ears were shaped, but I ignored it. It was a part of my heritage, so I didn't care what they said. But I also ignored it because I wanted to win, and they weren't going to keep me from doing that. I wanted to win for my parents," Link said coldly, he serious eyes looking into mine, "is there anyone you care about that you want to win for?"

Blinking as I thought about about it, my mind immediately flashed an image of Outset Island. There were so many people there that I loved and cared about, but if we were picking specifics, I decided to go with the two people I was closest to.

"Grandma. And Aryll," I responded proudly, making Link smile.

"Good. Now, when you are out on the battlefield, think about them. Think about how much you want to win for them; how much you care about them," Link lectured. I looked in his deep, honest, blue eyes and thought about what he had just told me.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" I finally asked. Link turned away from me, giving a little chuckle like he'd known that I was going to ask that.

"I wanted you to win first, so you would know that you could, and so you would gain some confidence," he explained.

"Link, I... Thank you. For everything," I said, then shifted a bit to hug him around his neck. He hugged me back, smiling as a single tear escaped from under his eyes. I wouldn't have even known it if I hadn't felt it drip onto the back of my shirt. But I wouldn't tell him.

Breaking away, he smiled sweetly and then got up to put the box back into the closet.

"Now, come on," he said, giving me an amused smile, "Captain Falcon should be bringing us our dinner pretty soon."

I smiled back and followed him out the door.

-Normal POV-

"LINK, DEFEATED!" the mechanical voice boomed. A roar went up from the audience as Toon Link stood in the middle of the stage, practically radiating valor.

In a flash of light, Toon Link was teleported back to the mansion, catching a last glimpse at the audience who was almost jumping out of their seats.

"Toon Link!" Master Hand called as Toon Link stepped out of the transporter, "You have won the 3rd Super Smash Brothers tournament! Congratulations!"

Toon Link smiled, turning and bowing respectfully at the floating hand.

"Thank you, Master Hand," Toon said happily. Standing fully erect, Toon Link looked around to see the proud, excited smashers smiling and shouting out words of praise. However, Toon Link was only focused on finding one particular face...

"Great job, Toon Link," a voice suddenly came from behind him. Toon Link whipped around and looked up at the one person he was most excited to see.

"Link!" Toon Link chirped, throwing his arms around his brother in euphoria, "I won! I really won!"

Link smiled happily, hugging his brother back as he laughed proudly. However, it didn't last long before a thought struck the smaller Hylian, making the boy break from it and awkwardly look down at his feet. Link blinked, cocking his head to the side in question.

"I-I um... I'm sorry for making you lose the tournament..." Toon Link started, "I know that it was your 3rd one and everything so maybe I shouldn't have tried to win-"

Toon Link was cut off as Link grabbed his waist and threw him up into his arms, laughing as he did it.

"Hey! Don't be sorry! I'm glad you won! I'm proud to have a brother that's so strong!" Link smiled, "But not stronger than me, alright?"

Toon Link's eyes sparkled with emotion, throwing his arms around Link's neck and hugging him tightly as he smiled.

"Never."

Both Links smiled, turning as a commotion came from the doorway to the main room. Everyone's anticipating eyes shifted eagerly to see a huge, shiny, gold trophy barely squeeze through the entrance, earning 'ooh's and 'ahh's. At the bottom, Toon Link noticed, was a plaque with the following engraving:

_Toon Link_

_Champion Brawler_

_Winner Of The SSBB Tournament 2010_

Link carefully sat Toon back down on the floor and watched with a smile as his brother ran up to the large trophy, looking at it with wide eyes.

Expecting him to say something profound or give some kind of I-would-like-to-thank speech, the smashers were bemused to hear what he _did_ say.

"Wow... That's HUGE! I could bathe in that thing!" Toon Link marveled, making everyone almost instantly burst out in laughter.

"Haha, anyway," Master Hand chuckled, "Great job, Toon Link. You have certainly proved that life shrinks or expands proportion to one's courage."*

Toon Link nodded in agreement, looking back up to Link with a huge smile. Link chuckled.

"You know," Link chided, "I'll have to earn my title back."

"I look forward to defending mine," Toon Link, putting up a confident fist and smiling in determination. Link laughed and bent down to Toon Link's level.

"Oh Captaaiinn! I do believe that our little champion wants a glass of water!" Link yelled to the kitchen, affectionately ruffling Toon Link's hair while the younger Hylian giggled cutely.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" came the irritated reply. Captain Falcon appeared in the doorway a moment later, sporting a lacy, pink maid's outfit over his usual uniform. Everyone tried to contain their laughter as he moped through the crowd and brought Toon Link the glass of water.

"Only one month left..." Captain Falcon sighed as he slunk away.

Chugging down the drink in one swig, Toon Link turned to address the crowd.

"Come on, guys! Let's go celebrate!" Toon Link announced, earning a wild cheer from the crowd as they noisily got up to head for the door.

Watching until everyone made it out the door, Toon was about to leave himself when he saw Captain Falcon sitting alone on the couch, looking pretty shameful. Blinking, Toon Link hesitantly turned to leave, but something kept him from going any further. While his brain told him to just leave the jerk sitting there, his heart told him that he should treat other's the way he wanted to be treated.

And that included Captain Falcon.

Sighing, Toon Link strided over to the racer while Captain Falcon slowly shifted his gaze to look at the boy with a questioning stare.

"Aren't you coming?" Toon asked him, forcing a smile that surprisingly didn't look fake. Captain Falcon blinked as he straightened up a little.

"You... really want me to come? After I made fun of you and everything?" Captain Falcon asked meekly. Toon Link's smile faltered as his heart cringed when he remembered that horrible time, but it just as quickly passed, letting his smile return to its calm stance.

"...It's okay. Everyone deserves a second chance," Toon Link smiled, turning and waving excitedly for Captain Falcon to follow.

Smiling genuinely, Captain Falcon got up and followed Toon Link out the door.

Toon Link didn't bother to remind him to take off the pink maid outfit.

~THE END~

I hope you liked this! I thought that this would be a cute story =D Review and read my other stories if you'd like! Thanks for reading!~ -Dawn ^^,

*This is not my own saying, but I really don't remember where I got this from. I just wanted everyone to know that I don't take credit for that ;P

P.S. I know that people whine about this a lot, but seriously, was that not the WORST battle scene ever? Please give me some slack, though, since it was my first one ^^'


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